Greek deflation picks up, prices fall for 19th month

ATHENS: Greek consumer prices fell 0.8 percent in September, with the annual pace of deflation accelerating from a 0.3 percent drop in August, data from the country's statistics service showed on Thursday.

September's reading was the highest since June when the annual pace of deflation hit 1.1 percent.

Greece's EU-harmonised deflation rate also picked up to a 1.1 percent fall in prices in September from a 0.2 percent fall in August, coming in above a 0.5 percent decline expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

For years an inflation outlier in the euro zone, Greece has been in deflation mode for the last 19 months as cuts in wages and pensions as well as a severe recession exert downward pressures.

Deflation in Greece hit its highest level in November 2013, with consumer prices registering a 2.9 percent year-on-year decline.

Euro zone inflation slowed to just 0.3 percent in September, well below the ECB's target of just under 2 percent and what it terms the "danger zone" of 1 percent.